The Rhea Family

Harris and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary. Yep, 6th!!!

We went to dinner while in Florida to celebrate. So we had a low key actual anniversary jointly celebrated by Clayton turning a year and a half. We cooked breakfast and enjoyed the morning at home. I gave Harris his gift.....drum roll.....3 new Columbia shirts.

And he gave me a new camera bag that I had been wanting/needing.

Harris spent the rest of the afternoon at Kyle and Brittany's cooking for something at work on Monday.

I played with Piggy.

I thought her pig tails were cute but made her look too old for my comfort.

After Piggy's nap we went to hang out with Da.

Then Piggy and I came home.

No need for fancy, we just celebrated by being us.

We've been a bunch of places, seen a bunch of things, and just lived life. It's been a crazy journey with ups and downs but I couldn't imagine riding this roller coaster with anyone else.

18 months old!

Crazy how time flies. The Lord knew what he was doing when he blessed us with Clayton. She has changed our lives so much in such a short amount of time. I can't remember life without her. Every age seems like it has been the best. I wish I could freeze her so she never grows up although I'm sure I will say this when she's two and then three and so on. Her little personality makes me melt and certainly keeps me on my toes. Her and Sadie are my best buds throughout the day and we have so much fun together. But most of all my heart falls for her more and more everyday. She truly is our little angel.

(We made her 1st piggy tails on her birthday and I think they make her look too old so I took her 18 month photos the next two days. I am particular about her pics being taken on her birthday but thought I'd include a piggy pic.)

18 Month Claytonisms:

Diaperless is Clayton's preference these days. She takes off her diaper at any chance she can get. Many days I feel like I have a non-potty trained puppy at our house except it's Clayton pottying all over the house. Since she wears dresses most days, I try to put panties on over her diaper to prevent her from taking it off. Sometimes this is successful but she manages to take them off anyway. So we are going to give potty training a try and see how it goes. Yes, I know she's young but never hurts to try.
As soon as Clayton gets out of the bath she likes to hug and snuggle. Towel or towel less a wet hug certainly is heartwarming.
Clayton is slowly trying to cut out her afternoon nap. However, many days she wakes up so late that her morning nap falls into an afternoon nap and it's hard to get a second one in. Plus, with trying to run errands, many times the nap gets skipped. But when we are at home all day, her mom needs for her to have that second nap. So I'm fighting hard to keep it in our schedule even if she just lays in her bed for awhile drinking her ba-ba. That second nap prevents her from driving me to drink before 5.
Each morning as we watch The Today Show, Clayton waves to all the fans in the crowd as they wave. Most times she's screaming "Heeeey!" to them as well.
She will sit for awhile (5 minutes is awhile for Clayton to sit in one place) and try to put her shoes on. If I am needing to occupy her for a few minutes, I just hand her her shoes. She can sometimes get her sandals on but most times not.
Clayton loves beauty products and attempts to apply them at any chance she can get. Regardless if it's a travel size shampoo bottle, she will unscrew the top and then try to rub the contents on herself, Sadie, or me. She loves helping me rub lotion on my legs. This sends Harris over the edge when she attempts to put it on him. He is really phobic of lotion, conditioner, etc. It's a mystery to me as of why.
"Heeeeey" is her favorite word. "Da" runs a close second.
She follows commands such as "Take this to Da," "Throw that away," or "Put these there."
I love keeping our front wooden door open throughout the day to let light in and be able to look out. However, that doesn't happen anymore until Harris fixes the lock because Clayton can now open the glass door and escape out the front.
Washing Clayton's hands is difficult because once she sees the opportunity to play in the sink it is difficult getting her down. She would love to sit in the sink and "clean" her sippy cups for an hour.
Clayton snuggling and falling asleep ranks as one of my favorites. Typically her laying down and snuggling lasts for about 5 minutes max. It is so tempting to let our snuggle buddy sleep in our bed on the rare occasions she actually falls asleep. However, a night of Clayton laying sideways and kicking me in the face is a reminder that her bed is the best place for her if we want to get any sleep.
Clayton mimics many things that we do. However I have no idea where she came up with the idea to cover her eyes with her hands when she gets in trouble. She also does this when she is being shy. She thinks she becomes invisible. I've tried to exclaim to her this simply doesn't occur. If she doesn't cover her eyes, she slowly closes them and then slightly opens them to see if you are still looking at her. Guess she gets sick of hearing "No" as must as we get tired of saying it. But what stinks is that it's so cute that I have a hard time disciplining her.
She is the Princess of Sleeping. Her mom probably is the Queen. She typically goes to bed at 8:30pm and we don't hear from her until at least 8 and most days later. Recently it has been around 9:30-9:45am. There are rare occasions when she will wake up in the middle of the night and will be sitting in her bed crying uncontrollably but it's obvious that she had a bad dream. We have to wake her up and soothe her to convince her whatever monster was attacking her is gone. Most likely a snake is tormenting her like they do in my dreams. Then she will go back to bed.
Clayton can't be let down in a store. She goes buck wild giggling and running the opposite way that you want her too. She grabs anything she can get her hands on and takes off. If she decides she doesn't want in a shopping cart at all or her shopping cart ride is over, the shopping trip is over as well. The check-out can't come fast enough.
OCD is a trait Clayton exhibits in her arranging of items. She likes to get all the extra toiletries out from the bathroom sink and arrange them, then step back and look at them, and rearrange them. She also does this with her kitchen pots and pans. Putting them back where they go isn't on her radar quite yet.
Clayton loves getting on a bed and laying in the middle of the pillows or just running all around the bed. She will run from side to side when you try to come get her. I have no idea how she hasn't been injured by hitting a headboard of falling off and hitting a night stand. A hospital visit for stitches in somewhere in our future.
Everyone says their baby is always happy so I'll go ahead and say that about Clayton. Truth be told, let someone else be the judge. Clayton has her moments just like all babies/everyone. Sometimes she gets fussy when she is tired but there are other times when she could go and go all day without a nap and be fine. Unless she can't do something that she has decided she wants to do (put a toy somewhere it won't fit or stay outside when you make her go in), then for the most part she is happy. She is very determined and knows what she wants. She giggles throughout the day and is always busy. She is an avid climber and animal enthusiast. After she warms up a bit, she is very social and she is definitely more shy around men. She is inquisitive and likes to explore. She has rhythm and dances to any slight beat or tune. And lastly, she is so sweet giving kisses and hugs often. However, she will shake her head and curls telling you 'no' when you ask for a kiss because she is too busy with something else.